STOTTD |Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty/Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty Chapter 1

Chapter 1

In the Eastern Capital, Luoyang, inside the Taiqing Daoist Temple.

An old Taoist priest with white hair and a childlike face, along with a white beard and white eyebrows, sat cross-legged on a cushion, his eyes closed, not moving at all, as if he had entered stillness.

A Zhou sat properly and upright in the seat below, her back straight as a rod, yet her head was lowered, not daring to meet anyone’s eyes.

It had already been the time it took to burn an incense stick since she was summoned into the room, but this person had left her standing there, not saying a word, making her not even dare to breathe too loudly, her heart uneasy and unsettled.

How exactly should she explain it so that the Taoist priest in front of her, the original owner’s master, the Taiqing Daoist Temple’s temple master Linghe Zhenren (Linghe Zhenren), would believe that she had transmigrated, and not possessed the body?

This was just too hard.

Other people who transmigrated either had a cheat, or came with the original owner’s memories, but she was completely in the dark, and knew nothing no matter what she was asked.

If she had not happened to run into someone who knew her, she would not even have been able to figure out the original owner’s identity, the first disciple of Linghe Zhenren (Linghe Zhenren) of Taiqing Daoist Temple, A Zhou.

A remarkable woman who, at the age of eighteen, had captured countless demons, become famous throughout the Eastern Capital, received the Saint’s personal conferment as Lingyun Jun (Lingyun Jun), and was exceptionally admitted into the Taishi Bureau.

If the disciple was so capable, the master could not be underestimated either. If she saw through the fact that the shell had changed hands, she was likely to regard her as an evil cultivator who had seized the body and extinguished the soul, and in the end she would probably meet the fate of having her soul destroyed.

After weighing it before and after, she made up her mind, rather than trembling in fear and exposing flaws, she might as well just pretend to have lost her memory.

After all, when she woke up, she found herself lying in a locust grove, holding a bronze sealing vessel in her hand, with a pool of unidentified blood on the ground, as well as a broken Xuan Iron Seven-Star Sword.

At a glance, this situation clearly showed that A Zhou, that is, the original body, had run into trouble while sealing evil spirits in the locust grove.

After deciding on her wording, she took a deep breath and slowly lifted her head.

The next moment, A Zhou suddenly grabbed the corner of her clothes, completely panicking.

Linghe Zhenren (Linghe Zhenren), who was sitting in the main seat, had somehow opened his eyes, and had already been examining her with an unreadable expression for a long time!

“Dang dang dang——”

The sound of a light knock on the door came, and a rather childish voice said, “Zhenren, the Deputy Minister of the Dali Temple has sent someone to ask Senior Sister to assist in capturing demons.”

The Dali Temple vice minister, Shen Shaoqing, was a strange flower in the official circles. Not only did he judge human cases, he also fought for demons to get justice, sending several demon-abusers into the Imperial Prison.

A demon even such a figure could not capture, let alone her, a fraud who knew nothing of spells and arts!

Just as she was about to refuse, she saw Linghe Zhenren (Linghe Zhenren) move slightly, and slowly take out a talisman paper from his sleeve and hand it over.

A Zhou: “?”

After a moment of silence, she reached out and took it, then paused, but still asked, “This, can it work?”

“Whether it works or not, you will know once you go.”

A Zhou: “……”

At this moment, she felt extremely uncertain.

Was there some mistake?

Isn’t this a 破煞符!

Repel evil, repel evil, it is specifically for repelling baleful energy, it is not even in the same lane as demons and evil spirits, what use could this talisman possibly have?

＊

The place where the incident happened was Changfeng Tavern, on the most prosperous street in Luoyang.

When A Zhou arrived, everyone on the entire road had been cleared away by the Dali Temple, and the yamen runners surrounded the place, looking at her as if they were seeing a savior.

“Lingyun Jun (Lingyun Jun)!”

Forcing out a smile, she followed behind the yamen runner and walked to the back courtyard of the tavern.

This place was in complete chaos, and in the center of the courtyard stood eight or nine guards holding sabers, wearing black military uniforms embroidered with beast patterns, and black futou of the same color. Their clothing was different from the Dali Temple runners.

Several people formed a surrounding circle. When they saw her, their eyes lit up, and their expressions, like those of the yamen runners guarding outside, quickly changed from guarded to relieved, as if they had seen a backer. They happily said, “Lingyun Jun (Lingyun Jun) is here!”

In the center of the surrounding circle stood a hamster that was over three meters tall, its whole body wrapped in transparent silk threads.

As a fraud who made a living by deceiving people, A Zhou had hardly ever seen ghosts, much less demons, and not to mention such a huge demon. She could not help but be startled.

In that instant of distraction, a handsome youth of tall build walked out from behind Ao Yin. A jade crown was pinned in his hair, and he wore a Xuan-black Hu riding and archery outfit. He had a straight and upright bearing, long limbs, broad shoulders and a narrow waist, a typical lean build that looked slim when dressed and muscular when undressed.

Among the people besieging Ao Yin, he was the youngest one, and also the calmest and most composed one. His refined face had no extra expression, and his temperament was as cold as ice, giving people a sense of chill that kept others at a thousand miles away.

A Zhou’s gaze unknowingly drifted over and settled on those slightly upturned phoenix eyes, sharp like a goshawk.

As if sensing something, she turned her face to meet her gaze. His cold and handsome eyebrows and eyes hid frost and snow, and the sharpness in his gaze carried disgust. Even his voice showed a trace of impatience.

“Why are you still not helping?”

The leading yamen runner then spoke: “Lingyun Jun (Lingyun Jun), its strength is very great, I’m afraid the demon-binding rope won’t hold much longer.”

As soon as the words fell, Ao Yin broke free of the demon-binding rope and knocked the guards in the surrounding circle flying!

The leading yamen runner hurriedly ran toward the youth and shouted anxiously, “vice minister!”

So it turned out he was the Dali Temple vice minister, Shen Shaoqing.

Shen Shaoqing’s reaction was extremely fast. In midair, he drew his sabre and thrust backward, the blade tip entering the ground, while he supported himself with one hand on the hilt and did a one-handed flip, landing steadily.

The guards who had been knocked flying climbed up from the ground and immediately engaged Ao Yin in battle. He shot over a cold glance, his dark eyes carrying a few traces of anger, then also joined the fight.

Someone pushed her from behind, and A Zhou staggered into the surrounding circle. The few guards very tactfully stepped back, ready to provide support, and waited with full trust for her to make a move.

Even Ao Yin, which had its back to her, seemed to sense that she was the backbone of this group. It slowly turned around, its scarlet eyes shooting out cold light, looking very dangerous!

A Zhou instinctively stepped back, and in an instant she had already lost a great deal in terms of momentum.

Was there some mistake!

Although the original owner’s Dao arts were profound, she had only learned the most basic talismans. Acting like a sham and cheating people was still fine, but in actual combat, even catching ghosts was difficult, so how was she supposed to catch a demon?

Originally, she had wanted to take advantage of this transmigration opportunity to seriously study Taoist arts and become a true demon-catcher. But heaven simply did not give her time, and as soon as she transmigrated she was forced onto the stage.

Who could take that!

In a panic, she hid behind a nearby wine jar and could not help but complain, “My God, this is a cross-discipline thing!”

This old lady has only caught fake ghosts, how am I supposed to catch demons!

Seeing this, the seven or eight guards holding sabers looked at each other: “?”

Then, the few of them very tacitly stepped back, leaving the monster to Shen Shaoqing.

Seeing the morale that had been inexplicably high in the previous moment collapse instantly, he cursed lowly, “Trash.”

“Yes, yes, yes, Shen Shaoqing (Shen Shaoqing) is not trash, Shen Shaoqing (Shen Shaoqing) is the most amazing! Shen Shaoqing (Shen Shaoqing), hurry up and take it down!”

“Is Lingyun Jun (Lingyun Jun) going to step up or not?”

I’ll step up your sister!

At this moment, all they heard was a loud “bang——”, as if something had been smashed down.

A Zhou poked her head out to look and saw those seven or eight saber-wielding guards lying sprawled on the ground, only Shen Shaoqing had not been knocked down and was still wrestling with Ao Yin.

Just as she was about to praise him as “amazing,” she saw Ao Yin grab both ends of the long sabre and violently bend it, the blade breaking in half with a “crack.”

A Zhou: “?”

And this is enough for you to still curse me?

Shen Shaoqing, carried by inertia, staggered and fell toward Ao Yin. In an instant, he was grabbed by the neck and lifted up, sent into the blood盆大口!

“Shen Shaoqing——!”

“Shen Shaoqing (Shen Shaoqing)!”

“Lingyun Jun (Lingyun Jun), save him quickly!”

Save, save, save!

But how was she supposed to save him?

In the flash of lightning and stone, A Zhou suddenly had an idea.

She stood up, her hands quickly forming seals, while chanting words under her breath, her voice especially low, almost humming them out: “Bye-bye donut hot pot milk tea instant noodles, freeze!”

As the word “freeze” was shouted, the hand seals in her hands were already complete, and Ao Yin stood frozen motionless in place!

“Shen Shaoqing (Shen Shaoqing)! Run quickly!”

Shen Shaoqing used both hands to forcefully pry at Ao Yin’s palms, but Ao Yin’s strength was very great. He could not pry them open, and could only struggle by kicking and stamping to create a little gap, before breaking free from the restraint and falling to the ground with a “bang.”

“Use your mouth less!”

Probably because he was choked so much that he could hardly breathe, he covered his neck and coughed a few times.

The others all silently breathed a sigh of relief, and rose one after another. “Thanks to Lingyun Jun (Lingyun Jun) for making a move, otherwise…”

“He should have made a move long ago!” Shen Shaoqing glanced over with a sideways look, his eyes cold, and she simply did not accept this favor. “Would a drunken and senseless rat demon in the past need such trouble?”

“That’s true.” A yamen runner chimed in, “In the past, no matter what demon it was, Lingyun Jun (Lingyun Jun) could always subdue it in an instant, and sometimes he even didn’t need the Seven-Star Sword to come out of its sheath.”

These people, in one way or another, were all blaming her for making a move too late, speaking as if he had been the one to foolishly volunteer to capture the demon.

A Zhou never suffered losses in verbal sparring, and immediately shot back, “Since the Dali Temple dislikes A Zhou so much, then don’t come to Taiqing Daoist Temple to ask for help in the future!”

Shen Shaoqing shifted his gaze over. “The Dali Temple judges human cases, while Taiqing Daoist Temple catches demons and evil spirits. It was Linghe Zhenren (Linghe Zhenren) who said that there were not enough hands, so the Saint ordered the Jinwu Guards and the Dali Temple to assist together in capturing demons. Lingyun Jun (Lingyun Jun),”

He narrowed his phoenix eyes slightly, the dark light in his eyes sweeping over from the corner of his eye, revealing a trace of danger, “you’ve got it backwards, haven’t you?”

Bad, he is starting to suspect!

Her heart suddenly lifted, and A Zhou forced herself to stay calm: “Is that so?”

Shen Shaoqing did not answer, but asked instead, “Could it be not so?”

She spread out both hands, shrugged, and sighed lightly, “Sorry, A Zhou suffered backlash after sealing evil spirits, and my memory is damaged now, I really can’t remember very clearly.”

Hearing this, the yamen runner could not help but cry out in surprise, “As expected of Lingyun Jun (Lingyun Jun), to be able to seal the Wan Fox King all by herself!”

So the sealing vessel actually contained the Wan Fox King, the nine-tailed spirit fox!

This was not easy to deal with, no wonder A Zhou had paid with his life because of it.

At this moment, Ao Yin beside them moved slightly.

Then, its movements stiffly turned around, its blood-red eyes staring straight over, the anger in its eyes practically bursting out.

Seeing this, everyone was shocked and panicked, and all looked over, the trust on his face already vanished without a trace.

“…Lingyun Jun (Lingyun Jun), what is going on here?”

How could it be what else?

A Zhou turned and ran out of the courtyard: “Run quickly! This spell doesn’t work on it!”

Probably because the hatred value had been pulled to the maximum, Ao Yin ignored everyone else and only chased after her alone.

In a panic, she ran out of the back courtyard and suddenly stopped, turned around to face Ao Yin chasing after her, stretched out her index finger and pointed at it, stamping her feet as she pointed, full of momentum as she shouted, “Back! Back! Back!”

Unexpectedly, it actually really stopped, and even took a stunned step backward!

The saber-wielding guards in the courtyard were all dumbfounded, while A Zhou turned around and continued running.

Before long, heavy footsteps sounded again behind her, mixed with the angry roars of the demon beast.

Turning from the small path in front into the main street, A Zhou stopped again and repeated her old trick.

“Back! Back! Back!”

This time, Ao Yin no longer stopped, and instead quickened its pace!

How could she dare delay any longer, she turned around and ran out, “Help——!”

The clear shout broke through the sky, and many people leaned out from the shops on both sides of the street. Seeing the Lingyun Jun (Lingyun Jun), who had long been famous for “subduing demons with a snap of the fingers, cutting down devils with a sword,” being chased around everywhere by the monster.

“Is there some mistake!”

“So many people, why is it only chasing me!”

“As expected, monsters also bully the weak and fear the strong!”

There were no pedestrians near the tavern, only a row of Dali Temple yamen runners stationed along both ends of the road, like a human wall, blocking pedestrians outside and not allowing anyone to approach.

Seeing that they were almost running to the human wall, the yamen runners, wearing expressions of “the enemy is upon us, ready to die,” drew their sabers one after another.

On the street not far away, there were a few commoners who had just walked out of the shops by the roadside. In order to prevent Ao Yin from injuring innocent people, A Zhou abruptly stopped in his tracks.

The next moment, Ao Yin chased up to her, swung its giant claw, grabbed her, and sent her straight into its mouth!